Rock Sugar And Pear Stew

Chapter 24 - Ruin and provoke (Translated by Xing and to be edited by Souhi)

The inline skating club president was extremely sincere in hosting this dinner and even specially booked a private room. It was not easy to book a room in any restaurant located on campus and it was a mystery to how he had done so.

Tang Xue was late by two minutes. Upon arriving, she discovered that quite a few people were already seated round the table in the room. When she opened the door, the roomful of people turned their heads in unison towards the entrance. At the seat nearest to the door, there was also someone with his head turned to look at her. As people in the room threw numerous greetings in her way, he shot her a smile, a faint dimple appearing on his left cheek.

Tang Xue exchanged greetings with the crowd and nonchalantly headed into the room. Seeing how the seat beside Yu Yan was empty, she placed down her bag and sat down beside him.

Her actions were very casual and not contrived at all.

After sitting down, she heard the person beside her softly greeted, "h.e.l.lo."

"h.e.l.lo, I"m Tang Xue."

"I know." He quirked his lips. "I"m Yu Yan."

"I know that too."

As they spoke, Liao Zhenyu who was sitting directly opposite Tang Xue winked at her knowingly. He placed the extra tableware set in front of him on the transparent gla.s.s Lazy Susan and spun it to Tang Xue.

Tang Xue began to rearrange the tableware set in front of her.

Yu Yan took her empty cup. Holding the teapot, he rinsed the cup before filling it with water.

Tang Xue watched him from the side. His hand lightly gripped the white porcelain cup, his long and well-proportioned fingers a milky-white that seemed to gleam under the room"s lighting. This was an extremely aesthetically pleasing sight.

Yu Yan pushed the cup of water to Tang Xue"s front. He saw Tang Xue"s gaze on his hand and somewhat embarra.s.sed, withdrew it.

Liao Zhenyu was a little impressed at how his boss managed to tease someone with just her gaze alone.

The club president pa.s.sed over the menu. "Go ahead and order. There"s no need to stand on ceremony."

If Li Yubing was present, Tang Xue would definitely order dishes like croquettes and sweet and sour fish to disgust him. Food high in fat and sugar were something that athletes should avoid at all cost. However, since that fellow was not there, Tang Xue ordered two healthy vegetable dishes that were high in protein.

While waiting for the dishes, Tang Xue chatted with those who were present. Being a sociable person, she was able to hold a conversation regardless of whether she knew the other party or not.

Yu Yan sat beside her and quietly listened to their idle chitchat.

The atmosphere was perfectly relaxed when someone opened the door.

Tang Xue thought that it was the waiter coming in to serve the dishes. She turned and saw Li Yubing.

Without waiting for others to react, she swiftly stood up and pushed the door shut. "You"ve entered the wrong room."

The club president quickly stopped her. "Tang Xue, he"s in the correct place. I invited Ice G.o.d here." He raised his voice and loudly called out, "Ice G.o.d, Ice G.o.d, please come in!"

Hearing the club president"s call, Li Yubing reopened the door and walked into the room.

The club president was overjoyed and a fawning smile appeared on his face. "Ice G.o.d, I almost thought you were not coming. Quick, add a chair to the table. In a while, we"ll ask the waiter to bring another set of tableware. Here, take a look at the menu. Feel free to order whatever you want."

There were a few spare chairs in the room. Li Yubing pulled one over and thrusted it in between Tang Xue and Yu Yan. "Excuse me. Let me add a seat here."

Tang Xue stayed seated and did not move. She pretended to not hear him. Without a word, Li Yubing bent over and lifted her chair up along with her.

Tang Xue: "……"

After moving Tang Xue a little to the side, there was now an empty spot.

He properly slotted the chair in and squeezed into the seat. The s.p.a.ce was too small and Li Yubing was originally someone of a larger build. After he sat down, the three of them were tightly packed together. Yu Yan could feel his leg pressed against Li Yubing"s leg. This translation is a labour of love that should not be found/reposted outside of teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.

Yu Yan quietly, quietly shifted a little to the side.

Tang Xue"s good mood was completely ruined by Li Yubing. She leaned towards him and in a lowered voice, asked, "What are you doing here?"

Li Yubing turned and murmured into her ear. "I was also invite here like you."

"Don"t you normally hate dinner gatherings like this the most? Why are you so out of character today?"

"I"m in a good mood today."

Tang Xue rolled her eyes. In her mind, she tried to guess Li Yubing"s possible motives.

One by one, the dishes were served. Li Yubing once again leaned next to Tang Xue"s ears and quietly spoke, "Serve me some food."

Tang Xue almost could not believe that he was able to make such a shameless request. "Get lost."

"I"ll give you 1 yuan for every chopstick serving."

"Get lost."

"2 yuan."

"Get lost, get lost, get lost."

"5 yuan, 10 yuan, 20 yuan?"

Bang——

Tang Xue slammed a hand on the table and stood up.

Everyone was shocked by her actions.

She grabbed Li Yubing"s arm and hauled him towards the door. "You, come out."

Li Yubing did not resist and was dragged out of the room by her just like that. Still hauling him along, Tang Xue found a corner and shoved him up against the wall.

He leaned back and looked down at her, an enigmatic smile on his lips.

"Li Yubing." Tang Xue pointed at him. "I think you should just change your name to Lunatic Li[1]. Whatever is wrong with you, please quickly go and seek treatment for it, alright? Stop running around and being a menace to society."

"I"ll give you 50 yuan for every chopstick serving."

"……" Tang Xue grabbed his collar. "What exactly are you up to?"

Li Yubing quirked a smile. "Tang Xue, don"t think I don"t know what you"re up to. He"s still underage, are you really going to make a move on him?"

Tang Xue placed one hand on her hip and stared at Li Yubing. "Let"s shove aside the question of whether I"m interested in him or not for now…… The thing is, how is any of my affair your business?"

"I"m opposed to whatever you want."

"Oh, I want to be a pauper then."

"Sure, granted. In a few days, you"ll be a pauper."

Tang Xue could not be bothered to continue bickering with him. She ran her fingers through her hair. "You"re such a darned drama king."

"I"ll give you 100 yuan for every chopstick serving."

When the two of them returned to the room, Tang Xue began to manically heap food into Li Yubing"s bowl. Soon, a small mountain appeared in front of him.

In a breezy and honeyed tone, Li Yubing said, "That"s enough, I won"t be able to finish it."

"Gosh, have you forgotten the amount of steamed buns that you ate at Gao Lao Village[2]? I have complete faith in your abilities."

The club president and everyone else looked at each other. Each of them had a somewhat knowing look on their face.

Yu Yan was watching them with his head askew. When he happened to meet Tang Xue"s wandering gaze, he shot her a look of concern.

Tang Xue puffed up her cheeks and threw him a helpless look.

Propping his face on his hands, Liao Zhenyu felt that his boss"s journey to a relationship was becoming increasingly complex.

After the meal, everyone packed and began to leave. Tang Xue held up a finger to Li Yubing. "10,000 yuan." Without waiting for his response, she headed downstairs with Liao Zhenyu and the rest. This is translation is meant to be published only on teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.

Li Yubing followed behind them with his hands in his pockets. Due to his long legs, what others considered a normal walking pace was to him a slow leisurely walk. From how he was ambling along, it felt like he was one of those elderly grandpas taking a stroll at the park while holding a birdcage.

When they were out of the building, Tang Xue and Liao Zhenyu both went to retrieve their bicycles. Tang Xue had also joined the ranks of bicycle owners. A while back, she used 80 yuan to purchase a st.u.r.dy second-hand bicycle.

Yu Yan stood beside them and watched as they unlocked their bicycles. In his soft and limpid eyes was a hint of wonder and admiration.

Seeing him stood there in a daze, Tang Xue asked, "Where"s your bicycle?"

"I walked here."

"You"re going to waste so much time walking back to dorm." Tang Xue pointed to the side. "Why not rent a shared bicycle? It"s not expensive."

Yu Yan pursed his lips. "I"ll walk back."

Tang Xue tossed the lock that she had removed into the bicycle basket. She straightened up and carefully examined him. She was suddenly tickled. "Say, could it be that you…… don"t know how to ride a bicycle?"

Tang Xue had hit the nail on the head. A light blush spread across Yu Yan"s cheeks. He shifted his gaze and replied, "I don"t have time to learn."

He turned and headed off. Tang Xue steered her bicycle alongside him. "How about I give you a lift, we"re going to same way anyway."

"It"s alright, I"m quite heavy."

"That"s not a problem." Tang Xue pointed to Liao Zhenyu. "I could even carry that fatty."

Liao Zhenyu protested at this injustice. "Boss, touch your heart and tell me just how am I fat?"

Tang Xue giggled. She pointed at the rear seat on her bicycle. "Come on, come on. Come on up, I promise not to let you fall."

Yu Yan got onto her bicycle with a smile. With a forceful step on the pedal, Tang Xue smoothly rode the bicycle out.

Li Yubing stood on the flight of stairs leading out of the restaurant, his arms crossed as he watched the two of them rode off.

Liao Zhenyu saw that his lips slightly curled. He worriedly scooted over and said, "She"s so dense. How could she possibly pick up any guy at this rate."

Tang Xue had bitten off more than she could chew. She was having a little difficulty steering the bicycle—even though Yu Yan seemed pretty skinny, he was indeed quite heavy……

Actually, this was understandable. After all, he was lean and muscular, and muscles were denser and heavier than fats.

"Yu Yan, how tall are you?" Tang Xue asked him.

"1.78 m." Yu Yan answered.

"Mm hmm. You"re still young. You"ll probably still grow."

"I don"t want to grow anymore."

"Eh? Why not?"

"My centre of gravity would be too high. It"s easy to fall."

Tang Xue instantly understood. He was referring to when he skate. Being tall was indeed disadvantageous in figure skating. She tried to console him. "Don"t think too much about it. The impact isn"t that big, right? And when you"re tall, your legs are long and look really good."

"Mm."

"Anyway, you"re perfectly fine as you are now," Tang Xue added.

Yu Yan gave another "mm", this time with a trace of a smile. His faint laughter was a little restrained due to his bashfulness and was soft and pleasant to hear. Tang Xue was a little enchanted by it. She decided that when they became closer friends in the future, she wanted to touch his dimple.

At this moment, Li Yubing rode past them on his bicycle. When he saw the two of them, he let out a light and flippant "oh".

Tang Xue nearly fell off her bicycle.

"Lunatic." She cursed.

Li Yubing did not get annoyed. As if he was showing off, he effortlessly pedalled off and left them in the dust.

Tang Xue felt that Li Yubing that a.s.shole"s ego was about to reach the sky.

Truly, spare the rod and spoil the child.

Just wait, daddy would teach you how to behave.

Translator"s Notes:

[1] For those with a hint of Chinese knowledge or those who"s curious, Tang Xue told Li Yubing to change his name from 黎语冰 (lí yǔ bīng) to 黎有病 (lí yǒu bìng). 有病 (yǒu bìng) literally translates to being sick but with the connotations of being an insult that the person in question is nuts or have something wrong with their head.

[2] I"m not sure what Gao Lao Village is either. It just randomly popped up in the middle of this story. Google tells me that Gao Lao Village was the place that Pigsy (Zhu Bajie) from Journey to the West first landed in after being banished to the mortal world. If I have to guess, perhaps Tang Xue is subtly insulting Li Yubing by comparing him to Pigsy?

Tang Xue was pretty cute in this chapter (when not facing Li Yubing, that is). She used quite a few interjections such as "la", "ba" and "o" when interacting with Yu Yan. The way she spoke to him felt a little like she was addressing a young kid or one of those adorable and guileless friend that you instinctively want to protect. I didn"t carry the Chinese interjections over as they don"t translate well—all the cultural context and implied meanings are lost—and what she"s doing is not just simply speaking in a cuter manner. Because I tried to not embellish her speech too much, you might not be able to tell what she"s doing from the translation above.

Thank you for waiting! The people have spoken, most readers prefer the full chapter to split releases. If I really don"t have time, I"ll take a few more days to get the chapters out to you guys. (Just in case, here"s another disclaimer that super long chapters will still be split.)

This chapter will be edited by Souhi after her finals are over.